Day 14.080: Cemetery stones

Here are some of the other things that caught our eye in the cemetery.

The top two are right by the parking area - a bench wishing visitors a wonderful walk (with one of the local names - Cote which is pronounced like Cody) and a very impressive stone for Barbara Ripley Leavitt - Poetess with a photograph.

Next is a stone that despite its very weathered appearance is definitely a stone and not wood and a name that caught our eye - Asenath - which we had both failed to recall is the name of one of Joseph's wives in Genesis.

The bottom two were notable for different reasons - the first was one of several with the chain-links with the letters F L T. The letters stand for friendship, love and truth and signify membership of the wonderfully named Independent Order of Odd Fellows. The last one - a marker for the Small family - has a very unusual typographic style - not sure what to make of it - just very unusual.

Day 14.079: What we saw at the cemetery

On Saturday, we went for a walk at the cemetery. As Exile #2 mentioned, there were lots of daffodils in bud, but none yet in flower. We also saw some pushing through a thick layer of last fall's leaves:

We didn't see many birds as we walked, but the ones we saw were red (robin and cardinal):

The river estuary behind the cemetery was very busy with ducks, geese and gulls:

Day 14.078: We "went" to a gig

We spent the evening yesterday watching an exquisitely put together livestream concert by Madison Cunningham. I'm not sure when I first looked up her music - but it was having seen her contributions to the Porter's Gate Work Songs project. Her own music seemed to be a beguiling mix of expert guitar playing and effortless vocals and somehow reminiscent simultaneously of Joni Mitchell and Radiohead. I do know I bought her album in late summer of last year (albeit after time stopped having any real meaning) and listened to it almost on repeat for several months.

Last night she gave us some favorites and some new songs and we joined a little Q&A with a couple of performances of some older songs thrown in. It was great - if not quite a going to a gig experience.

Here's a taste of her work - a recent performance of a recent song.

Day 14.077: Exile #2's Sunday Column #339

Exile #2 writes...

We’ve had some much needed rain this weekend, which has helped the ground continue to thaw out. The squirrels are delighted. They’ve got straight on with digging and reburying their acorn stash. I found out last year that, because they are very protective of their food, squirrels move it around constantly, and sometimes they just pretend to be burying something to throw others off the scent. The little fakers (and lawn wreckers)!

The other exciting result of the rain and above-average temperatures is an early start for spring flowers. We found these daffodils beginning to bud on our walk yesterday.

Day 14.076: Just cut it all off!

The pandemic has changed a lot of things - among them my grooming habits. I briefly grew a beard and my hair has been getting increasingly long and once again, it was due for a cut today (maybe overdue). Exile #2 usually shaves the sides, sometimes trims the long bits too - today she did the sides as usual, but then I asked her to shave the rest of it off too. I'm glad I did although it's taking some getting used to from the rest of the family.

Day 14.075: When the kids realize...

...that we're trying to take a selfie without them:

Day 14.074: Birds - skittish edition

After a rather good winter of birdwatching, spring has got off to a slow start - and there aren't even leaves on the trees to blame yet. On our beach-and-park walk we saw - some disorganized geese:

and this white-breasted nuthatch:

I actually saw three or four of these between the two walks at the weekend, but they all seemed very camera-shy - disappearing around the back of the tree or flying away as soon I pointed a lens in their direction. This was the best of a disappointing bunch.

Day 14.073: Sunday evening at the beach

We left it until early evening to enjoy the sunshine on Sunday - but it was very nice indeed. We walked along the beach (at rather higher tide than we prefer) and then looped back via Ferry Beach State Park.

Day 14.072: The trees

We didn't see much in the way of animal-life at Kennebunk Plains, but there's always something interesting when you get out into nature. For me on Saturday it was the trees:

Some rather dead ones:

And on very straight one - but definitely still alive:

Day 14.071: Kennebunk Plains

As we mentioned, our first day of Spring outing was to Kennebunk Plains Preserve. It was definitely not at peak-beauty, but it has a charm at this time of year too. 

And I believe that is a female eastern bluebird - if so the first I've seen this year.

Day 14.070: Exile #2's Sunday Column #338

Exile #2 writes...

It was a gorgeous weekend. Maybe not quite t-shirt weather but it was sunny and warm and it did us good. Of course, right now we’re in mud season, where the snow is melting, only the evergreens are showing life, and all grass is bleached and dead. But you get strangely adjusted to it, so that you notice the smallest variations, such as the white bark of the birch trees, or the bare red twigs on shrubs - and of course there are the amazing blue skies, that Maine is very good at supplying in Spring.

I don’t know about you, but we all feel a bit like the grass right now. E5N1 is coming up fast on his second pandemic birthday, and all the young Exiles are struggling to keep up momentum in their school work, but I’m hoping that a bit more warmth and light, and the prospect of vaccines on the horizon for most of us, will help us all feel a bit better. I hope it will be the same for you too.

Day 14.069: Hello spring

It turned out that first day of spring, combined with mid-50's temperatures and sunshine were enough to get the whole family out this afternoon:

We went to Kennebunk Plains and as we were leaving saw two people apparently setting up a tent. It turned out that their activity was a bit more exciting than camping. Later we saw this:

It looked like some kind of training exercise and based on a bit of internet research, I suspect they were paragliders doing ground-training (a.k.a. kiting).

Day 14.068: Goodbye winter

Several people over the last few days have mentioned that spring will start on Saturday morning with the equinox. A few people will refer to tomorrow as the first day of spring. Sunday may get a look-in as the first full day of spring I suppose.

Anyway, here are a few more things we saw as we walked on the beach in winter (last Sunday):

Day 14.067: Geese and gull

We heard this large - and slightly haphazard group of geese fly over as we were walking on the beach on Sunday morning.

They did start to organize into a V as they flew away up the coast.

And here's a photo of a gull from around the same time, because I like it!

Day 14.066: St Patrick's side-dish

We didn't do much to mark St Patrick's Day this year but most of us wore some green (either by accident or design) and Exile #2 made colcannon for dinner, so we'll call it good.

Day 14.065: Beautiful at the beach and then...

Although it was certainly cooler than the previous few days, it was still a beautiful and pleasant morning walk on the beach on Sunday:

So it was a bit of a shock when we were warned of snow later in the day - which duly arrived:

It didn't come to much - unless you count the heralding of a Monday morning temperature of 11°F (-12 °C).

Day 14.064: Coming and going

We managed - somehow to drag ourselves out of bed on Sunday morning - despite the annual nonsense of Daylight Saving Time. We were probably not at our brightest and best, but we made it.

This moment caught our eyes, the tiny waves were breaking just by a ridge in the beach and sending waves back away from the sand almost as big as the ones coming in:

Day 14.063: Exile #2's Sunday Column #337

Exile #2 writes...

Happy Mother's day to our Mums celebrating in the UK today! No celebrations for me but Exile #1 and I have spent a fun weekend digging into our ancestry online. We’ve discovered all sorts of intriguing little details, such as the fact that my great grandfather’s middle name was Christmas.

Perhaps the most fascinating things to find are the occupations given on census entries: on my side of the family I’ve found maids and miners, railwaymen, tailors, and shoemakers. Perhaps the most special for me are my grandfathers’ records. Both died before I was born, but reading their entries and hearing about their jobs - one as a bus driver/conductor/inspector and the other as a bakery manager adds a little color to the picture I have of them. Of course, there’s always something eye opening lurking somewhere in the family history. I’ll just say Wormwood Scrubs and leave it at that!

Day 14.062: Historical investigations

Exile #2 started some genealogical investigations with the help of ancestry.co.uk yesterday and we have spent a good chunk of time today following threads and squinting at old documents. It's quite addicting.

In other historical news, I've been spending some time trying to work out how this youngster played the guitar for reasons that may be revealed in due course.

Day 14.061: Another anniversary

With the marking of a year since the pandemic started affecting the US, another anniversary nearly slipped by unnoticed, but today was the tenth anniversary of the end of a nearly 48 hour journey I took from Tokyo to Albany NY because my trip was interrupted by the 9.0 Tohoku earthquake (which caused such devastation further north including to the Fukushima Nuclear facility).

The earthquake hit Narita as we - at the end of our taxi - were turning onto the runway to depart. Some time later we were allowed to use our phones again. At the time I had a Blackberry which - unlike many of the phones of my fellow passengers - was able to get a signal. This is how I reported the trip live on Twitter (all times are Eastern I think)

Mar 10, 2011 6:35 PM
 Sayonara Japan, it's been fun in parts.  Time for the long, long day of travel home!
Mar 10, 2011 11:09 PM
 "Flowers were the very first thing we needed. Before bread. And long before words." Savoring every word! Anne Michaels-The Winter Vault
Mar 11, 2011 12:57 AM
 Sitting on the runway getting shaken by an earthquake - japan is seeing me off in style.  Lots of aftershocks.
Mar 11, 2011 1:22 AM
 Another earthquake.  The control tower workers have left the tower.  We're going nowhere!
Mar 11, 2011 1:32 AM
 Wow it was a 7.9! Now I'm thinking how close to sea level we are!
Mar 11, 2011 1:55 AM
 Yes folks it turns out it was an 8.8 Kind of doubt I'm getting home today!
Mar 11, 2011 2:01 AM
 We're still in the plane at the end of the runway. All airport buildings have been evacuated. 
Mar 11, 2011 2:17 AM
 Another aftershock.  No idea when we'll move but I suspect it will be back to the terminal when we do.
Mar 11, 2011 2:26 AM
 It was a little scary when it hit - a few things go through your mind when the plane starts shaking violently.  Earthquake not so much.
Mar 11, 2011 3:06 AM
 Apparently control tower reopened.  Terminal still closed and now its raining.  Stuck on a plane not seeming so bad!
Mar 11, 2011 3:28 AM
 Aftershocks still shaking the plane.  Happy to be safe but I really want to go home now!
Mar 11, 2011 3:33 AM
 Another earthquake warning.  All told to sit and buckle in. Yikes.
Mar 11, 2011 3:59 AM
 Going to be "deplaned" and taken to a "safe location" no indication when I might be able to leave Japan.
Mar 11, 2011 4:34 AM
 4 hrs after scheduled departure we are slowly approaching the airport bldgs again.  A minor inconvenience compared with nearby events
Mar 11, 2011 4:39 AM
 Looks like we now sit on the plane for several more hours!
Mar 11, 2011 5:37 AM
 We've had dinner on the plane while I watched them unload the luggage and cargo and then reload the bags. Tragedy making way to comedy
Mar 11, 2011 5:55 AM
 Now the cargo is being reloaded.  No info from crew.
Mar 11, 2011 6:11 AM
 Flight is uncancelled hopefully leaving soon. Batteries almost dead. Thanks for the love.
Mar 11, 2011 6:36 AM
 Pushing back to try again!
Mar 11, 2011 8:07 PM
 Safely to Detroit.  Home tomorrow.
Mar 12, 2011 4:00 PM
 Just got home!